Turkish Foreign Minister Ahemt Davutoglu
ANKARA—A French bill criminalizing denials of Armenian genocide is designed to “Nazify” Turkey and push it out of Europe, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said while slamming the European Union for failing to denounce the motion, reported the Hurriyet Daily News.
“The basic aim here is to Nazify the Turks, in a sense to confine it to somewhere other than European culture. We’ll not let this happen,” Davutoglu told CNN Turk on Jan. 27.
He also said he was disappointed by the silence of the EU, citing in contrast the clear attitude of the U.S. administration against the French “genocide denial” law.
If any candidate country to the EU had implemented such a law, the union would have raised the issue, included it in its progress reports and made its removal a precondition of entry, Davutoğlu said, adding that Turkey expected the EU to impose sanctions on France.
Davutoğlu also had a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Jan. 28 to thank her for her statement disapproving of the French bill. The two also discussed the latest developments in the Middle East and Davutoglu’s upcoming trip to Washington, diplomatic sources said.
Clinton told a State Department gathering on Thursday that the French law was affront to free speech and added that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US “opens a dangerous door,” saying the Genocide is an historical and not political issue.
Meanwhile, Turkey has reviewed a number of military projects with France, and bilateral military cooperation has been reduced to a minimum due to the bilateral strain, said Turkey’s defense industry undersecretary, Murad Bayar.
“There are one or two ongoing projects that are at the completion phase. We will start no new important project,” he said but added that there could be some joint projects with other countries that feature French contribution.
